Gesture's Role in the Learning Process

When children explain their answers to a problem, they convey their thoughts not only in speech but also in the gestures that accompany that speech. Teachers, when explaining problems to a child, also convey information in both speech and gesture. Thus, there is an undercurrent of conversation that takes place in gesture alongside the acknowledged conversation in speech. This article shows that these gestures can play a crucial, although typically unacknowledged, role in teaching and learning.